England v Australia
First ODI
Bristol, 12 July 2023
Have you studied sports psychology? No? Nor have I. So how do we explain how this game turned out the way it did?
England won an extraordinary third match on the trot against an Australian eleven that is quite unused to reverses.
In Australia’s innings England dropped a sequence of catches, some easy, a few hard. We all know that old truth about cricket, one dropped catch is infectious.
The result of England’s untidiness was a total of 263-8. It’s well nigh impossible to calculate what it might have been, had they maintained their normal fielding standards.
But then, who could have imagined the Aussies trying to outdo the hosts in untidiness?
In between, some outstanding catches were taken. For England Sophie Ecclestone’s leap in the covers to end Phoebe Litchfield’s threatening innings of 34; then Nat Sciver-Brunt’s catch running away from the pitch as the ball came arcing over her shoulder. That was the vital wicket of Ellyse Perry (41) and one of two victims for Lauren Bell. Alice Capsey proved to be England’s most economical bowler, 9-0-37-1.
Against those successes we must set a series of woeful dropped catches that seemed to sound the crack of doom. The Ashes gone once again.
A reminder: the Australians never lose ODIs, at least not the last 41. England knew they had no margin of error; they had to win all three remaining matches, an unlikely prospect. And then those chances missed!
The Reply
We knew the Aussie bowlers would come out after the break and blow the English batters away.
Hoho! Instead, they bowled wide after wide, adding in no-balls for good measure. Inside three overs they had conceded 14 runs. The only early setback was Ellyse Perry’s dismissal of Sophie Dunkley (8). The first 50 came up inside seven overs.
Tammy Beaumont was keen to dismiss rumours of a defensive mindset. She delivered a series of magnificent shots, especially through and over the off-side. At the other end Capsey treated the great Perry as if she was a school-chum, willing to offer her a few throw-downs.
By the end of the first powerplay (10 overs) the scoreboard read 84-1; both batters had struck 6 fours. Beaumont got bored with fours; she hit a six off Annabel Sutherland. That was the ton up.
The most unpalatable feature for the Aussie staff was a total of 23 extras, wides and no-balls predominating.
Georgia Wareham made the break-through with an indifferent delivery. Tahlia McGrath held a catch at mid-wicket from Beaumont (47/42; eight x 4, one x 6).
Capsey now struck her first six off the normally impeccable Megan Schutt. It cleared Sutherland on the long-on rope.
Frustratingly, both batters fell short of their 50s (Capsey 40/34), but they had brought up England’s highest ever 10-over powerplay.
While Heather Knight went on at her own controlled pace, wickets fell with worrying frequency. Hopes of an early win clouded. England descended from 163-4 (NS-B dismissed for 31, after looking as though she’d finish the job single-handed) to 235-8. Kate Cross was left to accompany Knight towards the finishing line.
But Cross became the hero as she smote four 4s in a match-winning partnership of 32. The skipper showed there’s more than one way of killing the cat. She finished on 75*/86 at a slower rate than the early batters, but her six fours and a six ensured a great win.
The vast crowd roared its approval. Another dramatic game of cricket.
Result
Australia 263-8
England 267-8 (48.1 overs)
England win by 2 wickets
Teams
England:
Knight (captain), Beaumont, Bell, Capsey, Cross, Dunkley, Ecclestone, Glenn, Jones, Sciver-Brunt, Wyatt
Australia:
Healy (captain), Brown, Gardner, McGrath, Jonassen, Litchfield, Mooney, Perry, Schutt, Sutherland, Wareham
Umpires: Anna Harris, Sue Redfern
Afterthoughts
How long till we get two neutral female umpires for international matches? A long road still to travel?
Australia had won 15 ODIs on the trot. How does an opposition deal with that? England decided to be brave and be willing to experiment (eg adjust the batting order, Dunkley opened).
Will two sets of fielding coaches be sacked?
